


in the mouth of the devil

by yiikes



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gen, Heist, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 05:04:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20303911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yiikes/pseuds/yiikes
Summary: In a quest to retrieve the egg from an enemy kingdom, Claudia battles with herself.





	in the mouth of the devil

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gay_rights](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gay_rights/gifts).

> for the tdp big bang!

1.

In the land that separates the kingdoms of Katolis and Xadia, Claudia is painfully aware of the heat.

They’ve been on the move for two days now, and there’s plants, rocks, and more plants. Claudia’s black hair sticks to her neck. No matter how many times she twists it up, it always comes back down in waves, and she suddenly wishes for her mother’s hands, working their fingers into her hair and bringing back Claudia’s loose strands tightly. Instead, she holds a hand up to the rest of the group, visibly irritated, and drops her pack to the ground. The movement pulls on her hair a little, and she lets out a huff. Her brother, amusement tugging at his face, pauses for her. Marcos, Corvus and the one Claudia only knows as the Crow Master come to a halt around them, turning to see Claudia working with her hair for the fifth time in under an hour.

She shoots them all a slightly irritated smile. Marcos, ever apart of her and Soren’s sibling banter, makes a face at her. Corvus and the Crow Master wait patiently.

“Hurry up, Clauds,” Soren tells her. “We won’t make any progress today if you have to keep doing that.”

Claudia wrinkles her nose, pulling tightly on the tail of hair sticking out of the cloth she’s using to keep it up. “Soren,  _ you _ try walking around with a shit ton of hair on your neck. I will  _ gladly _ give mine up for you to try it, all you need to do is ask.”

Soren lets out a snort. Claudia’s bag is slung back onto her back, when the cloth on the top of her head starts to slip. Claudia freezes in place. Questioningly, the rest of the group looks at her, and just as Claudia thinks it’s her imagination, they all watch as the cloth gives up, and her hair comes right back down.

“ _ Damnit _ !”

Marcos has the guts to laugh. 

Soren, grinning like a lunatic, comes up behind her as she stands, still frozen with barely contained irritation, and ties up her hair for her. He takes longer than Claudia does, and she knows he’s giving it another knot before tugging on the ends of her hair to secure it and pats her head. Claudia swats at his hand, but mutters a thank you anyways.

The sun is still unbearable. Claudia squints at it while the others start trekking forward, and the sun burns so bright that when she blinks and looks away, she can still see the glare everywhere she looks.

Even with the heat, Claudia jogs to catch up with the group. She can feel the sweat collecting on her skin, dripping down her back and forehead. She’s so tired of being out in this heat. “How much longer do we have, Sor-bear?”

“I can’t predict that,” Soren says, shooting Claudia a look, at the same time Corvus says, “A few more miles should do it.”

Claudia grins and punches Corvus’ shoulder. “Alright, Corvus is the new Sor-bear. Sorry, Soren.”

“No, that’s okay, he can keep it,” Corvus insists, but Claudia shakes her head, telling him it’s his now, wrapping an arm around Corvus’s shoulders and sticking out her tongue at Soren. After a moment, she pulls back and makes a face. It’s too hot for that. Marcos has gravitated to Soren’s side at this point, and Claudia can hear Soren’s beloved nickname passing his lips. Soren’s scowl barely puts a dent in Marcos’s smile.

All the while, the Crow Master says nothing. They just continue forward, watching them as they go. Claudia hasn’t heard them say a word in two days. Maybe they’re too busy worrying about the mission.

_ Claudia, _ a voice whispers in her head. It sounds so much like her father, she gets shivers down her spine.  _ You  _ must _ come back successful _ .

The smile slides from Claudia’s face, bit by bit. The mission. Xadia. Right.

The heat is becoming suffocating now.

  
  
  
  


They don’t reach the castle until nightfall, when the sun is tucked safely and comfortably behind the mountains, and the sky is dim, revealing the stars it hides in its grip during the day. They twinkle at Claudia as they break through the trees. The kingdom of Xadia lays out before them, still glowing faintly despite the hour. Claudia thinks it’s beautiful. Breathtaking. The moment she sees it, she’s speechless— staring in awe at what is before her. She and Soren share a look, one filled with wonder and child-like glee.

Corvus doesn’t seem to be in the same awe. He clears his throat, and Soren changes. It’s like a flame going out. Soren beckons them back into the line of trees and has them set up camp here for the night.

“Tomorrow, we’ll begin our preparation,” Soren tells them just before sending them off with their things. “But for now, we’ll get rest after traveling.

“Remember,” Soren says, his eyes cold when they meet Claudia’s, “we  _ cannot _ mess this up.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


2.

  
  


_ It happened when they were just getting past it _ .

Claudia didn’t  _ hate _ her father, really. When she was little, she used to be his favorite. She loved to sit with him and listen to him talk about  _ ocatame _ , about how it was made as a way for them to protect themselves. He used to tell her about what it was made from— vaguely, of course, because you couldn’t just tell a six year old that it was made from animals that were killed for their magic. He used to tell her that animals  _ blessed _ the  _ ocatame _ , that the reason they use the ink was to honor them and to protect themselves.

Soren would ask what happened to the animals once they had blessed the  _ ocatame _ . Their father would purse his lips and say they left. Claudia thinks Soren knew, back then. Maybe that’s why Viren hated Soren so much— he could see through the lies he told them, even at age eight. But maybe that was also their mother’s influence.

Claudia didn’t hate Viren, but she sure as hell didn’t  _ like _ him.

So when he pulled her aside in the Katolis castle with her brother in tow, when the king wasn’t looking, her reaction wasn’t exactly friendly.

“Claudia,” Viren said, hushed and yet urgent. Soren looks solemn beside him, and almost nervous. “I know you’ve got a lot of anger in you—”

“No shit,  _ Viren _ .”

“—but this is  _ important _ .”

“I’m sure it is,” Claudia said, pulling her arm out of her father’s grip. “And I’d like to tell you that I don’t  _ care _ .”

“Clauds—” Soren tried to say, but Claudia didn’t let him say anything. She grabbed his sleeve and tugged him away from Viren as if that would stop Viren from latching his claws onto her brother.

Soren huffed at her and pulled his arm away, but he didn’t rejoin Viren’s side. Claudia didn’t think he wanted to be beside Viren, either. They hadn’t seen Viren for months, successfully avoiding him by being sent out on assignments as often as possible. And now, here he was.

Viren made a face— an unpleasant one that told Claudia he didn’t like that. “Even if it means saving the kingdom?”

Claudia hated to admit, that, for a second, it made her stop. It was Soren’s turn to grab onto  _ her _ arm, but it was to keep her  _ there _ , and Claudia knew, from that action alone, that Viren had already used the spiel on him. That he believed in the shit Viren’s spouting.

“Tell her,” said Soren, after a moment. His hand squeezed Claudia’s arm reassuringly. “Tell her what’s going on.”

Viren continued without hesitation. “The kingdom of Xadia has the egg, and if we don’t do something about it, the kingdom may die.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


3.

Claudia wonders if the Xadian kingdom should invest in getting better security. Something that doesn’t trust Claudia so fully without even knowing her. Something that wonders why someone so obviously  _ human _ would want to work in a Xadian palace.

However, Claudia thinks, clutching the folded fabric she had been given to her chest with a small grin, it’s in her best interest that they don’t.

She’s  _ in _ .

She’s supposed to begin now, put right to work the moment she’s been cleared and hired. Yet, she sneaks out the back with her new uniform still in hand, and runs across the grounds before she can be seen. When she reaches the wall, she takes a quick look around, hoists herself into the tree with one hand, and tries to ignore the scratching of bark under her fingers, and the way branches poke at her, tangling in her hair. She makes a face, but keeps climbing, the clothes kept tight to her chest.

On the other side, the Crow Master is waiting for her. Their head is down, their arms crossed across their chest, and they sit on one of the stronger limbs, legs crossed.

Claudia makes a hissing sound to get their attention. When they don’t look up, she hisses, “Hey! Uh—”

She doesn’t know if she should call them the Crow Master to their face or not, and realizes that she doesn’t know any other name for them. She wrinkles her nose when they still aren’t looking up, and whispers louder, “Hey! Crow!”

The Crow Master looks up.

“Oh,” they say. “You’re here. Update?”

“I’m in,” Claudia says, holding up the clothes up for them to see. “I start right away. Tonight, I’ll let you know more.”

They nod. Claudia watches as they lower their head again, looking like they’re about to fall asleep, and bites her lip, a question on the tip of her tongue. Instead, she keeps it in and threads her way back out of the tree. A branch scrapes her arm on the way down, and she hisses at the sting, dropping from the tree to land on her feet. She switches the clothes from one arm to another to check it over, but it’s not bleeding, so she leaves it.

She changes in a room away from the door she snuck back in through, and leaves her clothes in there. Hopefully, she’ll remember where they are, but if she doesn’t, it’s not a  _ huge _ loss, she supposes. The uniform they have her wearing is short-sleeved, thankfully, so it doesn’t aggravate her new scratch, and she had been allowed to choose between a loose skirt and a pair of slacks. She’d chosen a skirt; one, because it’d be easier to sneak things out that way; and two, it was easier to move around in.

When she finally gets to where she should have been this entire time, folding clothes, she gets through four finely decorated shirts before her advisor peeks her head in, takes a look at her progress, and makes a face.

“You’re going to want to be faster than that.”

Claudia makes a face, still folding, that is meant to be apologetic. “Sorry, sir, it took me a little bit to get in the groove.”

Her advisor, whose name was something like Allisto, she thinks, nods as if she understands. When she turns to place a newly folded dress shirt down, she steps forward and grabs Claudia’s arm. Claudia startles a little, but Allisto is looking at her scratch from earlier, which is still fresh and red.

“Where did you get this?”

The lie comes out easily. “Tripped on my way in here. Those walls are rougher than I thought they’d be.”

Allisto hums in acknowledgement, then lets go of Claudia’s arm gently. “Careful, then.”

Claudia nods as the advisor then turns back to the door, returning to the hallway to check up on the others who are working in this hallway, and Claudia returns back to the clothes, folding them as neatly as she can. They aren’t perfect, but at least she looks like she’s got  _ some _ experience.

Once the clothes are folded and stacked, placed by the door to be taken back to their rooms, Claudia decides it’s high time she does some sneaking around.

  
  


She gets back late. When she pulls back the flap of their tent, the fabric glowing with light on the outside, she sees that someone has got a spell on the lantern, keeping it lit. Soren looks up from his place on his makeshift bed, while Corvus and the Crow Master stay where they are, enveloped in a tense game of what Claudia believes to be chess. Corvus gives her a half wave in way of recognition, while the Crow Master doesn’t even spare her a glance.

Claudia huffs. What a way to be welcomed back.

“You’re back,” says Soren, getting up from his bed, and Claudia hands him the clothes she managed to remember on the way out.

“Yeah, don’t celebrate too much,” Claudia fires back, and falls to her knees on Soren’s bed, and takes it over. Soren makes a sound of disbelief which Claudia pointedly ignores. Her back screams at her as she lays down flat on the ground, and she winces so hard Soren actually flinches. “Oh,  _ hell _ , my feet  _ ache _ . At least they paid me, or I don’t think I’d go back. Forget the mission.”

Soren kicks her leg. “Hey.”

“Sorry. I meant  _ fuck _ the mission.”

Soren scowls above her, but decides to ignore that comment. Instead, he sits next to his own bed while Claudia laments about her aching back, and says, “So what all did you hear?”

Grudgingly, Claudia sits up with a sigh, wishing she could lean on something. Instead, she makes Soren grab her an apple to satisfy her grumbling stomach. Before she bites into it, she says, “I didn’t get anything on possible entry points or the like.”

Soren doesn’t look surprised. “Go on.”

“However,” continues Claudia, digging into one of the pockets in her skirt, “I did figure out a date.”

Out of the pocket, Claudia pulls out a folded piece of paper and sets it on the ground between her and Soren. From the corner, both Corvus and the Crow Master look up from their chess game. Gingerly, Soren opens the folds and is met with what Claudia knows is the sketched face of a silver-haired princess.

Claudia takes a bite of the apple, and points to the words scrawled across the top; big, bold letters spelling out CORONATION OF PRINCESS RAYLA OF XADIA.

“That’s our way in,” Claudia says, but her mouth is full of apple. What she ends up saying is more like, “Phas ouw wae en.”

Soren grins. He punches her shoulder lightly. “Nice job.”

Claudia punches his shoulder back, harder. “I know.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


  1. 4. 

  
  
  


The first time Claudia meets the Princess of Xadia, it’s in the garden during Claudia’s break.

Claudia’s found the garden to be her hideaway spot as of late— it’s quiet. Peaceful. She almost  _ can’t _ have negative emotions in this place, because it just seems… wrong to mess it up. She’s like ice in the summer sun— thawing away her growing concerns and frustrations.

If only she could feel like this everywhere.

She picks up a stick from off the ground, and when she does, she makes a face at all the dirt caked onto it. Claudia shakes it and hastily tries to wipe it off the end so she can hold it, and drags it across the ground. It makes a line in the dirt.

She should get back to work soon. Who knows what they could be saying while she’s gone? With her luck, they could be talking about secret passages, crooked guards, and weak points in the castle every time she’s gone.

Claudia lets out a breath and traces over the line in the dirt again. And again. It’s awfully calming for something so mundane. She traces over it until it’s more of a blob than a line, and her thoughts slowly fade from the forefront of her mind, becoming so insignificant in this moment that her next breath feels liberating. God, she wishes she could go to sleep right now.

Just when she’s considering lifting herself into a tree to do just that, the entrance to the castle opens with a bang, and the girl who steps out of it comes  _ stomping _ out.

Claudia’s movements still. She wonders if she could sneak back inside before the girl spots her, but the thought is short lived when the girl spins around, kicking the base of a rock with her foot, and looks up, right at Claudia. Lilac eyes stare at her, and Claudia notices, for the first time, the silver hair tied up neatly in a bun on the top of her head. In her head, she curses like a sailor who’s just returned from the war at sea. On the outside, she gets up hastily and goes into a low bow.

“Your Highness,” Claudia says to the Princess of Xadia, head bowed low.

She hears sniffles, but the voice that speaks is strong. “You can rise now.”

Princess Rayla’s face is red under her eyes, but the way she composes herself suggests she was never crying at all. She stands straight, looking at Claudia critically like she’s trying to place her, but isn’t sure where to. Her gaze falls on her clothes, however, and she asks, “Are you new?”

“Yes,” Claudia answers, then hurriedly adds, “Your Highness.”

Rayla nods and crosses her arms in front of her chest in a way that’s supposed to be relaxed, but Claudia can see how tense she is. It’s a defensive stance.

“Forgive me, Your Highness, I didn’t mean to intrude—”

“It’s fine,” Rayla says. Here, her voice shakes a little. “I just— needed a little break. You don’t have to leave,” she adds when Claudia bows her head again and moves towards the door, “I don’t want to force you out if you’re taking your break.”

The way she says it sounds like she’d rather Claudia leave, but it hits Claudia that this is an opportunity. Slowly, she moves away from the door. “If that’s alright with you, Your Highness.”

Rayla nods. Claudia sits in the place she had been before, and Rayla, looking conflicted, sits not far from her. They sit in silence, and Claudia picks the stick back up from the ground. The blob she had been tracing before slowly gets bigger the longer she does it, and she’s so into her task that she almost doesn’t notice the small sounds of choked sobs. When she does notice it, she hesitates.

“Your Highness,” she says quietly, and the chokes stop immediately. “May I ask… are you alright?”

There’s a long silence from the princess. Claudia almost thinks she’s not going to get a response from her, but when she goes back to her task of drawing in the dirt, Rayla’s voice carries over, soft and just a little strained.

“I’m fine.” There’s a shaky breath, and Claudia glances sideways to see the princess with her knees up to her chest, cheeks red and eyes even more so. “Just… frustrated.”

Should she push, or leave it alone? What will get the princess to open up?

Claudia purses her lips. “Would you like to talk about it, Your Highness?”

Rayla lets out a long breath. “If you have the time? The advisory council— they want me to be a figurehead, not a ruler.”

Twisting herself to face Rayla, Claudia crosses her legs and listens as Rayla hesitantly starts her rant— about the advisory councils plan to continue their rule with Rayla as the uniting force. She’ll do all the royal duties, just without the actual ruling, claiming she’s still too young to take on a country by herself. Claudia thinks it would be rude to ask what happened to the previous Queen and King that left Rayla as the next in line, but she can guess it easily enough.

“I thought I could make a  _ change _ ,” Rayla says, and there’s frustration ringing in her voice. Tears clip at her every word. “I wanted to  _ help _ my country.”

Sniffing, Rayla wipes her face of her tears, and Claudia’s never been good with comforting others. It’s awkward when she reaches a hand out between them and says, “I’m sorry for your frustrations, Your Highness.”

Rayla smiles lightly, but it doesn’t reach her eyes and it falls quickly. She doesn’t touch Claudia’s hand, which is just as well, because Claudia doesn’t know if she could handle that amount of tension. “Thank you…”

“Claudia.”

“Claudia,” Rayla repeats, and the small smile sticks this time. “I’m glad there’s someone listening.”

After that, it’s like Claudia can never get a break from the princess.

The next day she goes into work, the sky just barely showing hint of life, and her limbs feeling heavy because of her rough sleep that night. When she starts in her task of washing clothes, her advisor looks up from her own task and stops her.

“You’ve been called to the Princess’ Room this morning,” Allisto tells her, arms slowing on the scrubbing board, squinting at her like she’s only just woken up. Claudia wouldn’t be surprised if Allisto did her job asleep on her feet.

Claudia’s eyes narrow. “Why?”

Allisto shrugs and continues her task of scrubbing the clothes. “Not sure. I just know the Princess herself asked last night, I believe, so you’ll want to be getting up there fast. Ask one of the girls upstairs to show you the ropes, they’re usually in their quarters right about now.”

“Okay,” Claudia says. She purses her lips and places the clothes she had grabbed to wash beside Allisto just as another servant rushes in, looking sheepish. As Allisto begins to converse with him, Claudia leaves the room and makes her way to where she’s been summoned.

When she arrives in the servants quarters upstairs, a girl not much older than her looks up from where she’s gathering cloth in her arms and lets out a startled noise. One of the white cloths she had just picked up drop back onto the pile she was picking from. She hurriedly picks it back up, sorts out the mess in her arms, and says, “You’re Claudia, yeah?”

Claudia nods. The girl makes a clicking sound.

“Follow me. She needs to be awoken in half an hour, so I’ll rush you through the basics. And you let me know anything you need clarifying on, yeah?” Claudia nods again and the girl jerks her head to the side. “Let’s go. Grab some of those towels, will you?”

  
  


“Good morning, Your Highness.”

Rayla blinks up at Claudia, eyes squinted against the morning sun, before letting out a loud yawn. For a moment, she closes her eyes again, and Claudia thinks she’s already gone back to sleep. “Good morning. Five more minutes?”

“Forgive me, Your Highness, but I think you know it’ll be a lot longer than five minutes if I let you go back to sleep.”

Rayla grins, and Claudia watches as she sits up in bed, long, silver hair falling onto her shoulders. She stretches her arms out, twisting her body, and mumbles out sleepily, “That’s fair.”

Slowly and almost clumsily, Rayla hops out of bed, rubbing at her eyes and stretching again and again to shake out the sleep still hugging her limbs. She holds out an arm towards Claudia, and with a jolt, Claudia realizes she’s supposed to help Rayla out of her nightwear. Hurriedly, Claudia steps forward, pulls on the arm of the sleeve, then the other, and turns politely as Rayla finishes the job. 

Claudia turns to the vanity table, with jewelry and brushes and other things lain across and begins preparing it for Rayla’s hair while Rayla gets dressed behind her. There’s so  _ much _ — Claudia wonders if Rayla will even use all of it. How much of it goes to waste?

She purses her lips. It’s bad enough that she’s basically been pulled from her main source of information, but she can’t afford getting heated over something like this. She lines the table up and turns immediately when Rayla calls her name softly, turned with her back towards her in a silent ask to button her dress. Claudia obliges.

When the silence between them is broken, it’s by Rayla.

“Thank you for coming up to help me this morning,” Rayla says, head twisted towards Claudia as Claudia works her way up the back, pulling on the sides to get better access. “I hope I didn’t pull you away from more important duties.”

“Of course not, Your Highness,” Claudia replies lightly. The title sits heavily on her tongue. “Just was a little shocked, is all.”

Rayla laughs a little sheepishly. “Apologies. I just enjoyed your company yesterday.”

To that, Claudia says nothing. She finishes up the buttons, and smooths out the shoulders, getting rid of the wrinkles. Once she’s satisfied, she turns to the vanity table. The girl from earlier— Essa, she had told her her name was— had said to start with the jewelry. There were combinations she could go with, but Claudia can barely remember any of them. Rayla’s dress is red, she notes, and Essa said that silver goes with anything.

Picking up a pair of silver earrings, Claudia turns back towards Rayla, who looks at her expectantly. Claudia bites her lips, then says, “Let’s get you ready, then.”

  
  
  


Claudia spends a lot of time with Rayla, now.

It never stops being weird to call a girl who isn’t her own princess by Your Highness, but Claudia slowly grows more and more used to it. Rayla isn’t bad to be around, either. She’s sort of funny, even if Claudia’s first impression of her is red eyes and angry tears. She talks, a lot, while Claudia gets her ready, and lets Claudia go off and do other things while she’s busy with her day. It’s not a total loss for her source pool, really.

Still. Claudia can’t stop thinking about how she’s supposed to be robbing her from right underneath her nose.

This morning, Rayla is already awake before Claudia enters the room. She sits up in her bed, silver hair messier than usual, and looks like she hadn’t gotten a bit of sleep the night before. When Claudia steps in, she glances up, pulls her hair to one side, and smiles weakly.

“Good morning, Your Highness,” Claudia says.

“Good morning,” Rayla says. She slides out of her bed, feet hitting the floor softly, and skips over her usual stretching for the morning. She holds out an arm wordlessly, and Claudia pulls on the sleeve obediently, then pulls on the other. They fall into their usual pattern they’d taken up in the past week Claudia had been by her side, and Rayla is much more quiet than usual. She dresses quietly, and she sits in her vanity seat quietly as Claudia dolls her up for the day.

It’s weird. Claudia wonders if she had a bad dream of some sort, but keeps quiet about it.

Claudia takes a brush to Rayla’s hair, and it’s more tangled than usual— it takes a bit of struggling to get through it, and Claudia has to fight to keep from hurting Rayla. The silver hair in her hands is as soft as always, and before long, the brush goes through easily, breaking through the tangle. She brushes through a few more times.

“Claudia?”

Claudia hums in response, putting the brush down and adjusting Rayla’s hair on her shoulders, parting it and lifting it over her shoulders on either side. The dress Rayla wears today is a light green, and Claudia wrinkles her nose at the way it looks. She switches the right side over to the left, pulling her fingers through the strands.

“The day I met you,” Rayla continues, “do you remember why I was upset?”

“I believe so, Your Highness.”

Rayla pauses, and Claudia turns from her hair to the table again, saving the jewelry for last today. She pokes through and grabs the first pair she can find that won’t look hideous— Claudia’s not the best at this, but she hasn’t gotten a complaint since she’s started. Really, she doesn’t care about doing a good job, anyways— the job doesn’t  _ mean _ anything to her.

Rayla starts on another topic. “Is there something you  _ know _ you have to do? Like, you  _ have _ to do it, but everything inside you tells you it’s either a bad idea or despises the very existence of the idea? That you could do anything else?”

Claudia’s hands still. She’s midway in putting Rayla’s earrings, and her fingers stop on Rayla’s skin, and the other girl shivers when Claudia’s fingers brush against her neck. She struggles, for a minute, whether or not she should be truthful. There can’t be any harm from it, right? And she was lying already…

“Yes,” she says softly.

Claudia forces herself to keep moving, slipping the earring in fully. Then she moves on to the other ear. As she starts to move her hand away, Rayla’s hand reaches up to grab it. She holds on to it tightly, and Claudia is forced to look into her eyes.

“Don’t you wish you could get away?” Rayla asks, voice barely above a whisper Her eyes search Claudia’s. “What if we just… didn’t do any of it?”

Claudia’s breath catches in her throat. Her eyes drop and lock on Rayla’s hand on hers.

Quietly, she says, voice raspy, “Forgive me, Your Highness.” She then clears her throat and tries to softly tug her hand out of Rayla’s grip. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Rayla’s face, hopeful just seconds before, falls. It slips off of her face like paper falling, and Claudia isn’t sure what she should say, or if she should say anything. Slowly, Rayla loosens her grip on Claudia’s hand, letting Claudia pull it away, and lets it drop on her lap.

“Of course,” Rayla says. “How silly of me— my apologies, Claudia. I’m not feeling well this morning.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


6.

  
  
  
  


“What about this entrance?” Claudia says, pointing to a slightly slanted looking hallway on her hastily drawn sketch. Crow and Corvus both tilt their heads to look at it, and Claudia makes a face. “Before you ask, no, it’s not actually slanted. It leads straight to the hallway to our target, but there’s guards there. We’d either have to knock them out or disguise ourselves.”

t fi

Corvus purses his lips in thought. “Is it heavily populated?”

“It’s one of the main entrances, if that’s the one I’m thinking of,” Crow points out, and Claudia makes a face. A little ways away, Soren tosses up an apple into the air, laying on his back in the grass. It hits the palm of his hand, and he sends it right back up, looking grim.

“Yeah, but with me on one side—”

Crow shakes their head, but Corvus is the one who actually defends the answer. “It’s too risky, Claudia. Even if you’re keeping watch, it’s more likely that anyone could pop up at a crucial moment. We need a place that’s less frequented.”

It’s true, but it doesn’t help her growing frustration. Every time someone brings up a suggestion, it gets shot down fairly quickly, and Claudia’s growing irritable in the sun. It’s hot, it’s her day off, and all she wants to do is sleep. But they’ve got a mission, and limited time to carry it out. Rest will have to wait until she’s home, in her moderate climate, surrounded by cool stone in the Katolian castle.

Her skin stings, and she smacks her thigh in response. The apple hits Soren’s palm again just after.

God, even the mosquitoes are worse here.

“How about here?” Crow points to an entrance on the south side of the castle— if Claudia remembers correctly, it’s the part farthest from the target and even  _ more _ populated. She shakes her head.

“Too far from the target room and there are even more people running around there. We’ll get caught before we get twenty feet from the door.”

Corvus lets out a thoughtful hum. Crow Master runs a finger along the map sketch, studying it closely, before leaning back against the tree behind them and crossing their arms over their chest. There can’t possibly be any other way in that’s close enough to the target. Everything is either too crowded or there’s no way to access it without getting spotted.

“We could try scaling the side of the castle—”

There’s a loud  _ thwack _ as Soren’s apple hits the tree, just above Crow. Crow flinches and looks up, but doesn’t comment on Soren’s rigid stance. Claudia and Corvus openly stare.

“Too risky.” Soren says. He turns to Claudia and looks her in the eye. “Keep looking around the castle when you get to work tomorrow. See what else you can find. Because otherwise, we don’t have a way in, and they’ll keep the fucking egg” 

In one fluid motion, he turns and stalks off, shoulders tense. Marcos, who had been preparing their lunch by the tent and just now coming over with a slate full of squirrel meat, furrows his eyebrows at Soren’s retreating figure, then turns the confusion to Claudia. She waves, dismissively, and Marcos drops off the food at their side and hurries after him.

Corvus and Crow spend a few seconds in silence before returning to the map, snacking on the food from the slack of rock Marcos had left, but Claudia doesn’t join in. Instead, she gets to her feet, wipes the dirt off her clothes, and follows after her brother and Marcos towards the tent. Leaves crunch loudly under her feet, despite the fact that it's summer and the trees are full of green. She’s going to take a nap, then, if Soren thinks that way. She’s tired, and her limbs are somewhat sore, and if she has to lean over anymore, her back will crack in half.

She’s pulling the tent flaps back when she hears the faint sounds of a distressed voice, and the sound of something striking wood. Claudia lets the tent flaps slip through her fingers and, before she can conclude it’s a bad idea, moves closer to the sound.

It’s Marcos talking. “ — he doesn’t deserve that—”

“I  _ know _ , Marcos,” comes her brother’s voice, distress straining his voice. Claudia moves closer and peers around a rather large tree. She can see Marcos’ side as he sits in front of another tree just ahead, and she can see a metal knife poking out of the trunk of another one after that. A second later, another knife joins it, and the sound it makes as it strikes the wood is one that sets Claudia on edge. 

“I know that he shouldn’t have this affect on me,” Soren’s saying still, and there’s the sound of clinking metal, like he’s shifting a handful of silver knives in his hands, trying to figure out what to say. 

“I just… I just don’t want to disappoint him.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


7.

  
  


The castle is scrambling.

It’s strange to see it so lively so early in the day, but with the coronation being just over two weeks away, the buzz of excitement is starting to become more and more prominent. They’ve already started their preparations for both the coronation and the ball afterwards, getting spaces ready for royal guests around the country and preparing the princess’ coronation dress. Claudia had overheard one of the other servants say the train was over twenty-feet long. She wasn’t sure if she believed that, nor did she care about it. With the coronation so soon, all she hears about is pointless politics and the like. It’s all so  _ boring _ . She doesn’t care about what happened the last time two royals were in the same room together, or who’s still angry about a fiasco that happened over a decade ago.

They’re pressed for time, and she doesn’t know if they’ll be able to make it in time. Soren’s words still echo in her head.

_ I just don’t want to disappoint him _ .

She gets the feeling on a very basic level. Having someone be disappointed in you is the worst feeling in the world. Claudia just doesn’t understand why it’s their  _ father _ of all people.

She tucks the sheets on a guest bed in a frustrated manner, making it look sort of ragged instead of polished, and a girl much younger than her— one of the servant’s kids, she believes— giggles as Claudia tries and fails to straighten it out. The girl shoos Claudia’s hands away and smooths out the bedding for her. She then gives Claudia a wide grin.

“You’ve gotta be gentle,” the girl tells her. Claudia smiles. 

“Thank you.”

A woman comes to the girl’s side— her mother, Claudia presumes— and places a hand on her shoulder, eyes furrowed. 

“Ellis, aren’t you supposed to be helping with the other little ones? And don’t shoo people away from doing their work, honey, it’s rude. Sorry, Claudia,” the mother says to her, and Claudia, unsure of how the woman knows her names, smiles back easily.

“It’s alright. She saved me the trouble, really. I don’t have a soft touch.”

The girl, Ellis, giggles, and her mother’s lips twitch upwards. She pats the girl’s shoulder and drifts off to complete her work, and Claudia beckons the girl closer like she’s about to tell her a secret. She holds up her hand to the side of her face and the girl’s face lights up in curiosity. Ellis leans closer.

“Do you want to go exploring?”

Ellis grins so widely, Claudia is afraid her eleven year-old lips are about to split open. “Yes.”

Claudia was going to take Ellis to the garden— because she wants to get fresh air again and take too long in her break— but Ellis looks disappointed the minute she realizes where they’re headed. Unfortunately, Claudia doesn’t really know anything cool in the castle for them to check out. When Ellis hears this, she grabs Claudia’s hand and tugs her in the complete opposite direction. The entire time they walk, Ellis is letting words tumble out of her mouth, reaching from her dog, Ava, all the way to her mother’s typical daily activities. Claudia guesses that Ellis comes to work with her mother a lot. Some of the things Ellis says, though, Claudia files away for later as important information. They never know what they’ll need.

“Mom doesn’t usually let me wander alone a lot,” Ellis is saying now as she drags Claudia through the hall, taking a sharp right and an immediate left. “But sometimes, she’s too busy, so other girls play with me while she’s working. One of them showed me this!”

They stop at a wall. Ellis eagerly looks over each and every one of the stones on the wall, looking for something. After a moment, she lets out a soft and triumphant half-shout and presses one of the stones. Nothing happens.

Ellis’ frown is deep. “I thought that was the one.”

She searches harder, and Claudia watches in amusement as she rubs her fingers over the stones as if it’ll help her find the stone sooner. In the corner of her eye, farther down the hall, there’s a spot on a stone that catches her eye. While Ellis searches, getting frantic now, Claudia takes a step closer to the stone in particular. The spot she noticed is engraved, as small as the pad of her pinky— she’s almost sure that’s a rune. It’s not an accidental shape. It was definitely put there by someone, but Claudia doesn’t quite recognize the rune, but she knows Katolis and Xadia have two very different styles. It looks almost like…

Claudia’s breath catches. Her fingers are now hovering over the small, engraved rune, and Ellis pads over to her side and lets out another triumphant shout, this time louder.

“You found it!”

Before Claudia can warn her against it, Ellis pushes up on her toes and presses the stone with all of her might.

Immediately, there’s  _ something. _ The stone disappears into the wall, along with the one next to it, and then another and another. Before her very eyes, a space in the wall disappears, and Ellis cheers. It’s dark inside, but the fearless eleven year-old next to her only grabs her hand and tugs Claudia along like a rag doll.

It’s a ramp that leads into a long hallway. Ellis doesn’t let Claudia stop for a minute— she pulls her along behind her, feet padding in the dark hallway as their entrance closes behind them, and runes lined along the walls start to glow, producing light for them to follow. By the time they reach the end of the hallway, Claudia’s arm feels like it’s almost been pulled from her socket, and Ellis wastes no time in pressing another rune hidden in stone. But this time, instead of stones piled into a wall, it’s a mixture of stone and  _ earth _ .

By the time Claudia realizes what’s happening, the sun is pouring into the room, and fresh air hits her like a wave.

“ _ Octax _ ,” Claudia whispers, in awe. Her heart is racing with a realization that hasn’t quite reached her consciousness yet. Ellis’ small hand grabs hers again and leads her above ground, the castle’s wall looming behind them. In front of them, there’s only trees.

_ A passage to the outside. _

Ellis is grinning at her. “Isn’t it  _ awesome _ ?”

Claudia nods— slowly, because she feels like something is  _ finally _ falling into place. This is it. What they’ve been looking for. A laugh bubbles out of her throat, followed by immediate guilt that she pushes deep, deep down.

She has to tell Soren.

Before she can think about that, though, she turns her attention back to Ellis, who’s watching her with the most pleased smile on her face. Claudia grins back just as widely and mouths  _ wow! _ to her, making Ellis giggle loudly. 

Claudia kneels next to Ellis and chooses her words very carefully.

“Ellis,” Claudia asks slowly, almost hesitantly. “Do you know anything about an egg?”

  
  
  


When she gets back to their tent, she can’t stop smiling. Only Corvus and Soren are in the tent at that moment. Corvus, who notices her smile the moment she steps inside while her brother is bent over a map, looking nervous and frustrated, lifts an eyebrow.

“What’s that for?” Corvus asks. Claudia doesn’t answer, but once her brother looks up, she holds his eyes, her grin getting bigger by the second. She taps her nose excitedly. “Claudia?”

Soren’s eyebrows furrow. “Claudia, what’s up?”

“I found our way in.”

She tells them everything. When she’s done, Soren punches the air victoriously and hugs her so tight that her lungs feel like they’re going to be crushed, but she wheezes out a happy laugh anyways. Corvus offers her a fist when her brother finally lets her go which she meets with her own. She’s excited. How could she not be? They’d found their way in.

Soren didn’t have to be so worried now. At least, that’s what she thinks.

“All we need now is an exit strategy,” Corvus reminds them, and Soren’s excitement dulls. Frustration edges back onto his face. Claudia furrows her eyebrows.

“Soren? Are you—”

“Don’t worry about it,” Soren snaps. Claudia’s jaw locks in place, her excitement ebbing away, and Soren returns to the map. The excitement that was there moments ago is gone, already. “We can’t get happy, yet. We’re not even close to being done.”

“What are we even  _ doing _ , anyway?” Claudia pushes. “What is  _ Viren _ going to do with the egg that Xadia supposedly won’t?”

She can hear Corvus breathing. She can hear the hitch in his breath, and she can see the way Soren tenses at the way she says  _ Viren _ instead of  _ Dad _ . Claudia can even see the bits of frustration in Soren’s movements as he turns to look back up at her.

But it’s the worry in his eyes that she’s not processing, and the words he says next, very carefully, like he’s not sure how they should taste in his mouth.

“I don’t know.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


That morning, Claudia gets up with a weight pulling at her that she hadn’t had before.

Mostly, she notices as she gets dressed, it’s in her chest. It grips her muscles tightly, and it tries to suffocate her heart beat in it’s grip. Sleep drags a delicate hand over her skin, trying to coax her back to bed where she doesn’t have to worry about these things, but she has Princess duty this morning. She can’t be late.

Soren and the others are all still asleep when she slips out of the tent, like they always are. Crow lays in a heap of limbs in one corner of the tent, Corvus laying still on his back next to them. In the middle of the tent, Soren lays on his stomach, arm under his pillow, and fingers entwined with Marcos’. She pauses, halfway out of the tent, hand stopping the flap from falling. Soren’s face is scrunched up, and his fingers tighten a little tighter around Marcos’ fingers like he’s fighting off a dream. Claudia bites her lower lip before stepping out completely and letting the flap swing back down. It covers Soren’s face, hiding it from view with it’s dull yellow fabric.

She can still see it, though. She thinks about it as she leaves the tent behind, and her thoughts are overrun with their mission. She thinks about it as she steadily climbs down the grassy hill towards the looming castle of Xadia and the wall that reaches skies above her head.

_ What is  _ Viren _ going to do with the egg that Xadia supposedly won’t? _

_ I don’t know. _

If only she could keep them both away from this.

The guard on duty that morning shakes awake from where he stands at the gate, and Claudia gives him a small wave as she approaches. Despite being here for the past three weeks, she hasn’t run into the same guard twice, and each time she has to reaffirm that yes, she  _ is _ supposed to be there. In the end, it’s always the outfit that convinces them the most, and she’s waved by without another glance. The minute the guard thinks no one is looking, he leans against the wall again and Claudia can hear a soft snore even as she grows farther and farther away.

The sun is just barely up. Claudia wishes she could do the same.

She’s still thinking about Soren as she brushes Rayla’s silver hair, and about their father. Doing mundane tasks like this lets her mind run wild with her worries, dragging her farther and farther away from reality. She doesn’t notice until Rayla’s hand reaches up to stop Claudia’s, and, startling, Claudia hears Rayla’s voice for the first time.

“Claudia.”

Claudia snaps back, pulling her hands away from Rayla’s hair like she’s been burned. Her wrist doesn’t escape Rayla’s grip, though.

“Apologies, Your Highness. I wasn’t paying attention.”

“I noticed,” Rayla says, but her voice isn’t harsh— it’s tinged with amusement. She gets up from her seat and loosens her grip on Claudia’s write to turn towards her. She keeps hold of it, and her eyes are determined. “Is everything alright?”

She’s close.

Claudia tilts her head down and says, “Nothing, Your Highness. I apologize—”

“Claudia, I don’t mind if you spaced out. I’m  _ worried _ ,” Rayla pushes. “Now tell me— is everything alright?”

Claudia’s fists clench. She pulls on her wrist, but Rayla shows no sign of letting go. There’s a look in her eye that’s very different from the last time they had actually  _ talked _ during the morning— that one was pleading. Tired. This one is strong and unwavering.

The thought brings a questions to her tongue before she can stop herself.

“Your Highness, do you remember what you asked me? After you woke up from what I can only assume was a nightmare?”

Rayla’s grip loosens, but Claudia doesn’t pull away. The look in Rayla’s eyes tell her that she does, but she shakes her head slowly, as if she can forget it if she says no enough. Like she can change history with that little effort.

To be on the safe side, Claudia tells her anyway. “You asked me if I would leave if I could. And I… told you I didn’t think it would be a good idea.”

Rayla purses her lips, like she’s tasted something sour or became aware of a bad memory. Claudia tries not to let it deter her.

“I’ve changed my mind, now. If you want to— I’ll… I’ll go with you.”

Rayla doesn’t answer right away, or at all, really. Her hand is still clasped around Claudia’s wrist, but it’s loose and almost feeble. She opens her mouth slightly, only to let it go again, like she can’t catch the words she wants. Claudia waits, anxiously, but the longer she does, the more the doubt creeps in. She bites her lips, pressing them together with her teeth, before slowly removing Rayla’s hand from her wrist and taking a step back. Rayla doesn’t fight it. She’s still struggling for something to say, and Claudia’s got a sinking feeling in her stomach that she’s about to be turned down. Quickly, she bows her head, sweeping a leg behind her and bending low before excusing herself hurriedly. She places the brush on the vanity table and leaves as fast as she can without giving away what she’s doing, trying not to slam the door behind her.

It was stupid. Claudia curses herself, and her thoughts, and her ever increasing wish to say  _ fuck _ Viren and walk off this mission.

_ But the egg _ , something says in her mind, reminding her of why she’s here, why she’s in suspected enemy territory.  _ Your duty to your kingdom is to take the egg out of dangerous hands _ .

Just before she leaves, Rayla makes a sound, like she’s trying to get her to stop, but Claudia pulls the door closed gently.

She doesn’t look back.

9.

  
  
  


Claudia hasn’t seen Rayla since then.

The coronation is in a week, now, and with all the preparations still left to do, it’s easy to avoid anything having to do with Rayla. Someone else covers Princess duty, and as far as Claudia knows, Rayla hasn’t had any complaints about it. Thanks to Rayla being the most important person in the castle, Claudia knows where she is every minute of the day and avoiding her has become second nature.

She pushes any thought of their conversation deep down, too. The only thing she focuses on is her duties in the castle and listening for anymore last minute information she and her team can use.

Claudia can’t think about their mission too hard, either. Conflicting feelings and thoughts battle inside of her like fierce ocean waves, hitting her from either side and forcing her under. She knows her duty to her kingdom— she  _ knows _ that she has to keep them safe— but the longer she’s here, she can’t help but feel like… like she’s not sure who she’s protecting her kingdom  _ from _ .

It’s easy sometimes to keep the thoughts at bay, when she’s doing chores in the castle or chatting with Ellis, who’s taken a liking to her and stays by her side most days, helping her fold or carry things to and fro to make things easier on Claudia. It’s sweet, and Claudia can almost forget that in a week, Ellis will probably hate her. In a week, she’ll be gone, and the truth will come unraveling like a loose scroll.

In a week, she’ll be back home.

She’s not entirely sure how to feel about it.

When night comes, Claudia wraps the thin cloth blanket that never keeps her warm and thinks that, maybe, it won’t be so bad. She’ll have her bed back, and blankets that actually keep her warm throughout the night. She’ll get to eat something besides squirrel meat and whatever snack foods they hastily packed before they left. But the egg would be with her— and in Viren’s hands.

Claudia is aware of who her father is and what he’s done. She knows what their  _ ocatame _ is made from, and the knowledge has always settled heavy in her bones, but she’s never really  _ thought _ about it. Not like this.

Claudia has no doubt her father will try, with all of his power and the egg’s, to keep the kingdom safe. Her only thought is  _ what would he do to those he considers threats _ ?

Beside her, Soren snores softly, and there’s movement as Marcos, on his other side, rolls over in his bed. Crow and Corvus lay still, and there’s the sound of insects making their presence known all around them. Claudia shivers and thinks, with her eyes landing on Soren, about what would happen if they  _ didn’t _ succeed.

She doesn’t like the answer.

On the battle goes.

At some point, it’s too much. Something a lot like fear grips at her heart, digging it’s nails in deep. She sits up, a hand pressing onto her chest as hard as she can, like she can relieve the pain that way, and leaves the tent, slipping on her shoes and breathing getting heavier. She feels dizzy, and oxygen isn’t getting to her lungs like she wants it to. She thinks of Ellis, and she thinks of Rayla, who she’s met and liked. She thinks of her brother, who she loves. There are dots in her vision, and she can barely get away from the tent without tripping over air, desperate to get alone.

It’s only when she’s sat herself on the ground, leaning against a tree, that she manages to breathe again. Claudia leans her head back and breathes in with her nose, filling her lungs up as much as she can even when it hurts. 

She’s got to get them through this. Viren can’t get the egg but she can’t let them  _ fail _ . If they fail, her brother will get hit the hardest, and they’ll just try again. If they succeed, she’ll have to bring it back…

The leaves under Claudia scratch and poke at the skin on her legs, and she makes a face. Her chest is slowing down, and her breathing is easier, but she doesn’t trust herself to get up yet. So she makes herself stay in that spot and thinks.

Maybe… maybe she didn’t  _ have _ to bring it back.

Her heart skips, this time, and Claudia’s hand jolts back to her chest, preparing herself for another round, but the panic, for whatever reason, isn’t as strong as it was. She presses her fingers into the space above her heart and thinks.

She doesn’t have to bring it back.

  
  


Claudia returns to the tent with leaves in her hair and dirt on her clothes, but her breathing is easy, now. She slips off her shoes and wipes the dirt off as best she can, thanking whoever is listening that everyone else is still asleep. It’s like she never left them— Marcos is shoving a hand in Soren’s face while Soren snores away soundly, and Crow lays face down in their pillow. Corvus lays on his back like he’s being laid to rest. It’s an amusing thing to come back to, and it doesn’t fail to bring a smile to her lips.

She crawls into her blankets again, pulling them around her to start warming herself up again all over. She gives the group one last look, as Soren lets out a particularly loud snore and Marcos pulls his hand away with his nose scrunched up. Crow pulls the pillow even closer to their face, and Claudia wonders for a moment if they’re going to suffocate like that, but leaves them be. The only way she knows Corvus is alive is from his breathing, with the slow and steady way his chest rises and falls.

Her heart gives a particularly nasty pang— this one of guilt rather than dread.

She’s going to get them through this.

  
  
  
  
  


10.

  
  


It’s the last night.

Claudia sits with her back to the same tree she had not long before, knees brought up to her chest, Soren sitting not too far away. There’s a light on in their tent that Claudia can see from where she sits, and she can see Marcos, Crow, and Corvus’s shadows as they move around, preparing for bed. Tomorrow, she won’t be the only one waking up with the sunrise— they’ll be packed up and ready to leave before she even goes in for work.

The only sounds around them as the two siblings sit together are the sounds of Soren peeling off the skin from his apple with a small knife, shoulders tense and mouth drawn in a tight line. Claudia watches him as he does it, as the bits of red apple skin falls to the ground below Soren, hitting the leaves softly. Thoughts swirl in her head, begging to be heard, but she doesn’t let herself focus on one. Her heart pounds anyway.

Another bit of skin falls into the leaves. 

Claudia pulls her knees closer to her chest. “Soren?”

Soren lets out a small hum of acknowledgement and cuts into the apple again. It’s nearly bare, now, but Soren looks like he has no intention of stopping.

“What… what are we going to do if we fail?”

Soren’s hands still. The knife is embedded partly into the apple, bleeding juice onto Soren’s hands, and it drips onto the leaves with the other bits of apple. He takes a shaky inhale of breath and finishes the cut he had started, watching as it falls to the ground with guarded eyes. He doesn’t look up at Claudia.

“We won’t,” he says at last. “We can’t think about  _ what if’s _ , Clauds.”

Another bit of apple falls.

“I know,” Claudia says. “I get that you don’t want to think about it. But I can’t help but— what if we  _ do _ ? We need a back up plan, don’t we?”

“We don’t need one.”

“ _ Soren _ .”

Soren sighs and his hands still again. “What, Claudia? We can’t get distracted from our mission by thinking like that. We’ll get the egg We  _ have _ to.”

“We can’t be prepared for everything! What if something goes wrong? What if one of us gets hurt, or they figure out what we’re doing before we can even  _ get _ to the egg? What if we  _ don’t _ succeed?”

Soren cuts a chunk off of the apple. 

“ _ Stop it _ , Claudia,” he snaps. 

The air is tense. Claudia holds her breath as Soren drops the apple and sheaths the knife. The tension in his shoulders has only gotten worse.

“Go to bed,” he orders. He gets to his feet, never sparing Claudia a glance. “We’ve got to be fully rested for tomorrow, you hear?”

Claudia lets out the breath and purses her lips, but she nods once. He holds out a hand to her and she takes it, letting him pull her up from the ground, but she doesn’t follow him as he makes his way to the tent. Instead, she stays behind and lets out a long sigh, tilting her head back towards the sky.

She gets why Soren thinks they have no choice but to retrieve the egg She knows, and she gets why— because despite everything their father is and has done, he’s the father. The father Soren grew up wanting to please, wanted to have look at him and be  _ proud _ of him. This mission, to him, is a way to prove that he  _ is _ worthy of Viren’s praise and pride.

Claudia gets it. She hates it, but she gets it.

And yet, as she looks up at the night sky, full of stars that shine down on her, she can’t accept it.

She’s not going to let Viren keep that power of Soren, she promises to the stars above her. She’s not going to let him get the egg either. She’s going to keep both the egg and her brother far, far away from him. No matter what.

The stars above her twinkle in response, as if accepting her promise. She smiles, sadly, and lets out another sigh, as if she’s trying to relieve all of her worries through that gust of air. Then, she lifts her head back up and heads towards the tent, where the light still shines dimly through the fabric, guiding her back through the dark.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The day starts out like any normal one— or, normal for the past few weeks. Claudia arrives at the castle as the sun rises and is put to work immediately, hurrying to and fro to get the castle ready for the castle residents.

Only, today is not a normal day.

Instead of laundry, Claudia is in charge of double checking the room to make sure everything’s in order and redusting everything she can reach. Ellis, who joins her and pads along at her side sleepily, holds the dust rag while Claudia straightens the bed sheets and hands it over whenever Claudia holds out a hand. People rush through the hallways, in a hurry to get things in order before the first of their guests are due to arrive. The moment the rooms are checked and checked again, Claudia’s sent to the front of the castle to gather with the other servants.

One by one, the residents begin to arrive, and servants are selected from the group to take the guests to their rooms. When it’s Claudia’s turn, she’s given a noble by the name of Ries, given the farthest room in the right wing. Claudia gives the noble a smile and a low curtsy and requests for them to follow her.

Caring for nobles is different than caring for the Princess. The noble Claudia is paired off to doesn’t require her help with anything other than retrieving items they are unable to get. It’s a bit of a relief, really, when her noble waves her off after a few minutes, and Claudia is given the chance to sneak away without a fuss before the coronation is meant to begin.

The guard who keeps watch in the hallway gives her a sideways look as Claudia approaches the laundry room, and Claudia sends her a small smile. The guard’s expression, seen through her open helmet, doesn’t change. No one is supposed to be doing laundry at the moment, all too busy with the nobles and the coronation starting in less than an hour, so Claudia isn’t surprised when the guard calls for her to halt just as she reaches for the door.

Claudia tries her smile again. “Yes?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be attending to Lord Evland?” The guard asks. 

Claudia would curse, right now, because the guard knows enough to know her assignment, but instead she pushes down any sort of suspicious reaction and states, “Lord Evland asked me to retrieve them something from the laundry room.”

On the palm of her hand, crushed  _ ocatame _ burns. The guard doesn’t look any less suspicious.

“What would Lord Evland—”

Claudia reaches up quickly and presses her hand firmly on the first bit of uncovered skin she’s able to find— the guard’s cheek through her helmet. The guard is quick, reacting faster than Claudia would think, but she isn’t fast enough. The moment the  _ ocatame _ ink touches her skin, she pauses, eyes falling shut, and Claudia catches her easily, resting her against the wall with a small clang of the armor. 

She enters the laundry room without any other problems, double checking that no one will come down this way. When she comes back out, now adorning a small leather bag, she drags the guard to her feet, grunting a little at the effort. Once the guard is somewhat standing, Claudia wipes at the ink on her cheek. Immediately, the guard starts to wake, pushing off of Claudia clumsily as she blinks back away. Claudia takes her leave, then, as fast as she can around the corner before the guard can fully come back to her senses.

Lord Evland barely looks up when Claudia comes back, raising their eyebrows at her through the mirror as she bows slightly. The satchel hangs loosely by its straps in her hand.

“It’s almost time for the coronation, Lord Evland.”

Lord Evland lets out a small hum and gets to their feet, dusting themselves off and crossing the room to their small trunk Claudia had carried up for them. They shuffle through the contents as Claudia places the bag gently next to the door, and pull out dark green fabric.

“How long do I have?”

“Around twenty minutes.”

They nod and wave a dismissive hand. “Come get me in fifteen.”

“Yes, Lord Evland.”

When she comes back later, Claudia leads Lord Evland down the hallway and to the hall of the castle. At the front gate, the carriage Claudia has called for them to take them over to the hall sits in all of it’s glory, pulled by two majestic looking horses. Lord Evland climbs into the carriage before hesitating and turning back towards Claudia.

“Will you be showing me back to my room, this evening?” they ask. “It’s a terribly large castle, and I can’t even remember which way to get to the dining hall.”

Claudia smiles politely, but her stomach turns. “I’ll be here, Lord Evland.”

Lord Evland nods once and sits themself down in the carriage. Claudia turns to leave the moment the carriage driver snaps the reins lightly and heads back into the castle. She stops by Lord Evland’s room, retrieving the satchel, and lets her feet take her back to the hallway Ellis had dragged her to more than two weeks ago, buzzing with excitement.

The rune carved into the stone is easier to spot the second time around. Her fingers graze over it lightly for only a moment as Claudia studies them intently. They really do bear similar resemblance to Katolian runes, she thinks to herself. They’re like an evolved version of them, or vice versa. 

Claudia presses her hand to the stone and watches as it falls away, revealing a long, dimly lit hall. Standing by the entrance, Soren grins at her.

“About time,” he teases lightly, stepping into the castle. Claudia rolls her eyes and reaches into the satchel at her side, pulling out three sets of servants clothes as Crow and Marcos follow suit. She hands the clothes over. 

“Yeah, yeah, I had things to do, jackass.” Out of the bag, she grabs a small bottle of gold ink and an even smaller brush as the three switch from their clothes from before into the ones she’s gotten for them. On her hand, she scribbles runes on any available surface of her hand, leaving enough space for her to grab things without setting anything off. She does the same on her other hand and tucks the bottle back into the satchel.

They dump the leftover clothes back into the tunnel and watch as the stones close back to their original places, looking just as solid as it had before. Their exit plan won’t be coming back through here, so Claudia wonders to herself, if someone will find them later— either weeks or months from now.

“Corvus?” Claudia asks after the stones are sealed back into their places.

“In position,” Marcos assures her.

“Good.” Claudia jerks her head forward towards the end of the hall. “Let’s get going, then.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


12.

  
  


They encounter guards right away.

The runes on Claudia’s hands burn as a reminder of the power she carries with her as she holds one of them up to stop the others behind her, peering around the corner at the guard who stands tall in position. Claudia purses her lips.

They’re clothed in servants wear, but Claudia’s sure that the guards won’t be fooled by three servants they’ve never seen before. No, the disguises would only work in passing.

Her hands start to itch.

Letting out a breath, Claudia signals for them to stay where they are and tugs the sleeves of her outfit down as if it’ll help cover her hands in any way. She walks purposefully around the corner as the guard looks up, eyes narrowed. Claudia smiles politely at the guard.

“What are you—”

Claudia all but lunges, touching the guard’s face with the side of her finger, and watches as the guard hesitates just like the one before hand, before falling into her arms. Gold shines on their cheek, and Claudia leans them against the wall. 

Soren catches up to her before she can even turn around, with Marcos and Crow right behind him. He looks grim.

“Someone’s coming,” Soren says in a low voice and Claudia wrinkles her nose as her heart takes a large, outstanding leap in her chest. She takes in a deep breath and racks her brain for the nearest room as footsteps slowly grow louder and louder, along with the clinking of metal.

“Go forward, and around the corner— there should be a room right around there that’ll be empty.” Claudia’s eyes drop to the guard laying on the ground. “I’ll be there in a minute. If not, I hope you remember your way around.”

Soren nods, and the three disappear without another word, as the footsteps get louder and louder. Just before they round the corner, Claudia heaves the guard to their feet, and then promptly lets go, letting the guard fall to the ground. She drops to crouch beside the guard and pretends to shake him as the footsteps quicken their pace.

“Sir? Are you okay?” She turns her head towards the new comer— another guard, by the flash of metal she sees— in a panic. “They just fell!”

As the newcomer approaches, she drags her thumb across the guard’s cheek, getting rid of the ink and spreading out what won’t come off, and they jerk 

a little in her grip. She lets go with a startled noise, put on for show, and the newcomer comes to a crouch beside her.

“Armestead?”

Claudia takes a step back from the two as the guard on the ground blinks back into consciousness, squinting at the hallway around them. They groan.

“What happened?”

“You collapsed.”

“Oh.” The guard blinks again, and Claudia can practically feel their memories returning to them as they become more and more aware of their surroundings. Their gaze lands on her and they squint, as if trying to place where she’s from.

“I’ll go get help,” Claudia offers, and the newcomer waves her off, allowing her to dash around the corner and draw in long, calming breaths. 

She opens the first door she sees and tries not to flinch when Soren’s knife, blade aimed at her throat, comes into view, pausing there for a moment as he figures out who she is. He drops it immediately and pats her shoulder.

“Sorry,” he says. “Everything go okay?”

Claudia nods.

“Good. Let’s keep going, then.”

They don’t run into anyone or anything else until they reach the dungeon.

Claudia’s been here three times, exactly, and all three for planning routes. She remembers Ellis’s hand gripping onto hers, dragging her down this hallway just as she had with the tunnel. She remembers the second time, finding the way back on her own, being stared down by the guards like they would attack at any time. She remembers the third, and final time, when one of the guards actually took a step forward, towards her, and sent her sprinting of, not wanting to be caught before the mission even began.

Now, walking down the hallway towards the two guards who feel more dangerous— better trained— she can feel how close they are to their goal.

Claudia has the other three stay back, but ready, yet again— around the corner and out of sight. The guards watch her closely as she makes her way down the hall, smiling shyly at them, but they don’t even blink. They watch her like hawks.

She comes to a stop in front of them, and in front of the large basement door, decorated like that of the great hall’s archway, but darker. More grim. The runes on Claudia’s hands itch even more, now.

“Hello,” she says. Neither answer her. “Do you mind if I could get through?”

The guard on the right narrows their eyes at her through their closed helmet. The other guard’s eyes blaze with an intensity that send shivers down Claudia’s spine and get her heart jumping again. There’s something on the left guard’s face— more silver behind the silver of the helmet. She tries not to squint, and tries to determine whether or not it’s part of the helmet of not.

“Why would we do that?” says the guard on the right.

“I’ve been asked to check on the contents below, by Her Highness,” Claudia says, keeping her voice even. The guard’s eyes narrow even more.

It’s a slow movement— not one that would usually be noticed— but the left guard’s hand moves just the slightest bit towards the sword strapped at their side. Claudia’s eyes drop to the movement, and on the way back up, she misses the rest of the movement as the guard’s hand grips onto his sword.

She barely has time to jump back before a sword swipes at air right where she had been standing.

Fuck.

The other guard has drawn out his sword now, too, and Claudia, weaponless, ducks as fast as she can, twisting her body out of the way as fast as humanly possible, nearly throwing herself into the path of the other sword.

It’s then that Soren and Marcos enter the fray.

Soren pulls her out of the way by the back of her shirt, and she collides into the wall with a grunt as Soren presses the left guard with the long, silver sword he kept hidden in his servants outfit, while Marcos engages the right one with nothing more than a pair of long silver knives. Claudia blinks, head foggy and aching, trying to get her bearings back. She touches a hand to the back of her head, but it comes away dry. On her feet, she’s still shaky.

The moment everything clears, she joins at Marcos’ side.

Without a weapon, she has very, very limited options, but the moment they collide, blades pressing against each other, trying to outmatch the other, Claudia jumps at the chance to grab at the helmet and  _ pull _ .

It comes off easily and Claudia tosses it aside with a noise of triumph, but the guard is already turned toward her, pushing Marcos off with a burst of strength and whirls it around on her, missing her by a hair. Claudia can practically  _ feel _ the sword’s blade whizzing by the skin of her arm, and she stumbles a few steps as the guard raises their sword again, only to get caught on Macros’ crossed blades, pulling them back.

It’s then that Claudia gets a good look at their face. On the middle of their cheek, where Claudia would aim for when slapping on runes, is a different rune— but in silver ink. Claudia doesn’t recognize the rune, but she can guess what it’s for.

Fuck.  _ Fuck _ .

A body slams into hers at that moment, sending Claudia sprawling to the ground in a heap of her own limbs, another body falling on top of her. She lets out a low groan, and Soren, who crashed into her, rolls off of her with a groan of his own. Claudia’s body aches, and she presses a hand against the wall in front of her, trying to get a feel for where she is.

Just as she starts to push up, there’s yelling from Claudia’s side, and she rolls on instinct, feeling her limbs scream in the process. She rolls the wrong way, apparently, because she can feel metal crashing into her side as the guard’s leg crashes into her, and they lose their balance. Their uncovered head crashes into the stone wall, and the guard crumbles, legs draping across Claudia’s body as she struggles to regain her breath.

The legs are lifted off of her after a moment, and hands pull at Claudia’s arms, pulling her up. Crow’s brown eyes meet hers as they attempt to see if she’s okay, and Claudia’s ribs scream as she takes in a particularly long breath. Crow’s mouth is a fine line.

“Can you stand on your own?” Crow asks. Claudia blinks as she realizes she’s leaning rather heavily on Crow. With a nod, she leans back slightly, testing her legs, and is thankful when they seem to hold her weight. Crow lets go after a few moments.

Claudia’s eyes flicker up to where Soren and Marcos now engage the other guard, before falling to the one at her feet. There’s blood trickling from their head, and she winces. She doesn’t know how bad it is, but the guard’s chest still rises and falls, their eyes staying firmly shut. She crouches beside them and wipes the silver off of their cheek with the pad of her thumb. She presses a knuckle to their face, and inspects the rune that comes off with interest. It seems to stick, despite the silver ink that had been there moments before.

Claudia’s still not entirely sure what the silver meant, but it can’t help to be safe.

The second guard goes down swinging. Marcos manages to take him out while Soren keeps him occupied, and when they hit the ground, the metal is so loud that Claudia’s head feels like it’s going to burst. She winces.

Soren, panting heavily, stares at the guard on the ground before leaning forward and swiping a ring of keys off the guard’s belt. He holds it up, and the keys cling together, making Claudia wince again.

“That wasn’t so bad.”

Claudia’s going to throttle him.

  
  
  


It takes them a few tries to get the door open, flipping from one key to the next, but they manage to  _ finally _ get the door unlocked. The doors are large and metal, so when Claudia goes to open it, it takes both her and Soren together to do it. After a groan of metal hinges, the door finally opens wide enough for someone to slip through.

Inside is dark. Claudia reaches a hand into her bag to pull out the bottle of  _ ocatame _ , but the inside is wet. She opens it wide and curses at the splashes of gold covering the bag, and the bits of broken glass at the very bottom.

“Shit,” Soren says from beside her, looking into her bag.

Her finger is covered in gold. She blows air throughout her nose and decides they don’t have time to deal with this at the moment.

She dips her finger into the mess of ink and splays out her palm, writing out the rune for fire on it. She presses one palm to the other and holds her hand as far from her body as possible.

The rune bursts into flames.

“I’m going in,” she says firmly. Soren nods. Crow squeezes her arm.

“Good luck,” Marcos tells her. She smiles at him.

“Thanks. I’ll be back soon.”

  
  


The darkness is almost overwhelming.

Even with the light burning in her palm, she can only see a little bit in front of her at a time, and the result is nearly tripping down the stairs face first. She manages to stay upright, though, and descends down the stairs, one step at a time.

It’s colder down the stairs. Claudia shivers, wishing she could pull the flames closer to her body to keep her warm without burning her clothes. Once she steps off the last step, however, there’s a glint not too far in front of her, a flash of gold that catches her eye. Claudia’s breath catches.

In front of her, is the egg

She can tell the moment she lays eyes on it. It sits on a stone pedestal, with a circle carved out in the middle, laying on its side, glimmering gold. It’s covered in intricate, flourishing designs that Claudia wants to run her fingers over, and feel the dips in the metal. It really is an egg shape— but how it’s a weapon, Claudia can’t quite figure out. Without realizing it, Claudia finds herself several steps forward, reaching out to touch the metal of the egg with the hand not burning with fire.

It’s just as cold as the air around her.

Claudia presses the burning rune to the side of the stone pedestal. Gently, Claudia lifts the egg off of it by an inch. The dug out circle underneath makes a sliding noise, like stone against stone, as it follows suit and Claudia pauses. She’s not sure she wants to set off whatever is in store. She lets go, and the circle and egg slide back into place.

She lets out a breath of annoyance and moves her gaze away from the pedestal. 

For the first time, she gets a good look around at the rest of the room— it’s filled with other odd things. There’s a mirror in the far corner, cracked across the surface so badly that the image is utterly ruined. A small, glass ball lays on a shelf of a bookcase that’s filled with anything  _ but _ books— instead, with other small trinkets that Claudia thinks must be worth a fortune. There’s a metal box on the same bookcase that shines silver. It’s around the same size as the egg, but unfortunately wider. It wouldn’t work as a replacement.

Striding over, Claudia rolls the glass ball into her hands and grunts in surprise at the surprising weight. She shifts it in her hands, and decides it’s good enough.

The switch itself is easy. Claudia rests the small ball against the egg and the corner of the pedestal and rolls the egg towards one side with one hand. She uses her other hand to guide the small ball onto the small circle and picks the egg up quickly. 

For a second, she holds her breath. Nothing happens.

She shoves the egg into her bag, gold ink still covering the inside, and dashes back up the stairs as fast as she can.

  
  
  


When she reaches the top, Soren gives her a smile so wide that she thinks he might break his face. As soon as she gets close enough, and he can see her bag bigger than it was before, he puts a hand on her shoulder and squeezes.

“You did it,” he says. Claudia gives him a smile and he brings her in for a hug, ruffling up her hair with a laugh. “Clauds, we  _ did _ it!”

Claudia forces a smile. “We did it.”

Marcos gives her a high five when Soren lets go, and Crow gives her a small smile. Guilt pulls at her heart, but she pushes it aside.

“We don’t have time to celebrate right now,” Claudia hears herself say. “Lets get into position, yeah? Once you hear the signal, don’t wait for anyone else. Get to Corvus as soon as you can.”

“On it,” Marcos says. Soren is still grinning widely, and Claudia feels her throat tighten painfully.

She forces another smile. “See you guys on the other side.”

Marcos and Crow are gone without another word. Before Soren can get too far, Claudia reaches forward to snag his sleeve. Soren raises an eyebrow at her.

“Soren, I—” she swallows thickly. “You’re not defined by V— by Dad. You know that, right?”

Soren’s smile loses a little of its gleam. “Clauds?”

“You don’t need Dad’s approval to be happy, you hear? All you need is  _ your _ approval with yourself, and you’ve got  _ plenty _ to approve of. You’re—” Claudia’s voice cracks, “You’re my brother, and I love you no matter what.”

Soren’s hug is surprising, but not unwelcome. As he holds her close, Claudia’s eyes sting, but she forces the tears down and hugs her brother close for the last time. He ruffles her hair softly, and she sniffles into her shoulder before pushing him back.

“We’ve got a mission to finish,” she says. “Jackass.”

Her brother’s lips quirk upwards. “Love you, too, sis.”

They grin at each other, Soren waving a hand in goodbye, before Claudia watches her brother turn around and follow after Marcos and Crow, who are long gone. It settles in her chest, then, that she’ll never see him again.

With the egg safely secured in her bag, Claudia goes the opposite way, back towards the tunnel.

  
  
  
  
  


13.

  
  


Claudia’s not sure how long the coronation is supposed to last. She’s counting on at least an hour, so that maybe, just maybe, she’ll be able to have enough time to escape without worrying about running into parting neighbors of the Xadian kingdom, or running into the people coming back.

The way back feels longer than it did on the way in. In her nervous state, Claudia takes a few wrong turns that leave her fumbling to find her way around, and it gets to the point where she has to pause for a moment, hand gripping the strap of her bag tightly, and calm her nerves. She doesn’t have much time, and the way she’s going now, she’ll end up getting caught.

When she’s confident she knows the way back, there’s the sound of rustling fabric from behind that catches her ears too late.

“Claudia?”

Claudia’s heart stops. Slowly, she turns, pushing the body of the bag behind her so, hopefully, it stays mostly out of sight. The first thing she catches sight of is the white ruffles of a coronation gown.

Rayla is stunning. Her silver hair is carefully braided together, gleaming with silver designs made of the thinnest material Claudia’s ever seen. Her dress is all ruffles of matching silvers, reaching downwards to pool at her feet, while her torso is covered in similar designs that her hair has. On her cheeks, silver ink is drawn in two long triangles down her face, making her lilac eyes shine.

But there’s no crown.

Claudia can’t say a word. Her hands grip the strap of her bag tighter.

Rayla takes a step forward. 

“Claudia?” she tries again. “Why are you back here?”

Claudia swallows thickly. “I was—”

Unsure of how to finish the sentence, Claudia shifts on her feet, causing the bag at her side to move slightly. Rayla’s eyes drop at the movement, and Claudia moves it out of her sight as smoothly as she can. The princess narrows her eyes.

“What is that?”

Rayla makes a move toward her, dress moving in her wake and Claudia takes a step back and blurts out, “Rayla,  _ don’t _ .”

To Claudia’s surprise, Rayla stops, the startle clear on her face. It hits Claudia, then, that she just called her  _ Rayla _ and not  _ Your Highness _ , and fear grips her heart then, urging her to keep speaking.

“I’m a servant,” Claudia says quietly, answering Rayla’s previous question and ignoring the one after it. “I go where I’m told. What about you? Is the coronation done already?”

Rayla’s jaw tenses.

“It hasn’t even begun.”

Claudia narrows her eyebrows. “Then why are you here?”

Rayla purses her lips, and Claudia takes that as a sign that she’s not going to answer. She grips the strap of her bag tighter and racks her brain for something to say, something to get her out of here, when Rayla finally speaks up.

“Did you mean it? When you— when you said you wanted to leave with me.” For the first time since they met, Claudia sees Rayla’s confident stature fall. Rayla folds one arm over her stomach and lowers her eyes just slightly. “That’s why I’m here.”

Claudia’s breath hitches.

“Oh.” Claudia spreads out her fingers on the bag, forcing them to relax. She swallows air again. “I— Yes. I meant it.”

Rayla’s smile is soft. But then her eyes drop to the bag again, and the softness fades away, giving way to that glint of wariness in her eyes. Claudia knows her behaviour isn’t helping ease Rayla’s suspicions, but she can’t help the way her hands tighten around the bag and her body angles itself to place her between Rayla and the bag. Her heart races in her chest, like it’s going to jump right out.

“Your Highness, I—” Claudia shifts on her feet, and her legs tremble a little, “I’m— I’m not who you think I am. And I can’t tell you much right now, but... I’m doing this to save the kingdom.”

She leaves out, coincidentally, that it’s for  _ both _ kingdoms. 

“If you come with me, I’ll tell you everything, okay? Or just— go back to the coronation and pretend you never saw me, and go on to lead your country. I just—  _ please _ trust me.”

Rayla’s eyes are narrowed— with confusion rather than suspicion now. “Claudia—”

“Rayla,  _ please _ ,” Claudia begs. “That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? Because you want to leave?” 

Lilac eyes meet Claudia’s, and that’s answer enough for her.

“Then let’s  _ leave _ . Together.”

Claudia holds out a hand, and Rayla stares at it as if it’s something to fear. There’s a glimmer of longing in them, too, and they battle on Rayla’s face, as Rayla’s hand slowly fights its way up to take Claudia’s. When her fingers slip into Claudia’s palm, Claudia wraps her fingers around Rayla’s firmly and smiles. Rayla smiles back at her, weakly.

  
  
  


Claudia leaves the castle, egg safely tucked in her bag and out of Viren’s hands, and fingers wrapped around Rayla’s warm hand as they leave Xadia behind with each step forward that they take.


End file.
